Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1887-04-21
a CARNIVAL OF DEATH

0omo q the HoerDrs 81 The YAosss PEo-
v.tllng In India n lS1s-:o.
After being delayed q week at Jooty.
where at the Government expense
lived sumptuously. was ordered to
Madras. where / did not fare so well.
! but was finally ordered to Tinnevelly,
the most southern state in all India
From thence l was sent to Ootipa-
daram. where the collector had estab-
lished = huge camp. and where ten
thousand to twelve thousand paupers
were being fed The village Of Ooti-
padaram sits on huge treeless plain,
which plain in better years raised vast
amounts of grain. and the village was
the mos. thriving of that district But
now its rich Brahmins were dead.
Used to a life of ease and plenty. they
Had been the first to succumb to want
and privation. and there in their
houses with their hands clasped
across their knees or writhing
on the floor in agony. they had
gasped out their breath calling on God
for succor. Women who were once
beautiful lay dead with their children
in their arms. and on the putrid bodies
ON the grim skeletons-lay golden
anklets. bracerets. earrings and the
fine golden platter which adorns the
wealthy Brahmin woman's head.
Jewels fit for crowned heads lay scat
tered about-jewels which had been
offered for handful Of millet and had
been refused. and through all this
gloom and misery stalked the profess
sional beggar. poking and prying to
find something with which to stay the
gnawing at his vitals.
There were thousands of human be-
ings busy making the camp. and very
little food But the grain was
coming. coming as fast as oxen
could drag it, and the many hungry
people. elated with hope. strug-
gled bravely against death In all that
vast and starving crowd there was no
murmur. Once or twice An Emporium.
ate woman would catch my leg and
ask whether 1t were true that the grain
was coming. No shudder Of horror
electrified their frames when thrice
each day the carts laden with dead
would pass from out of the camp and
dump the bodies in the long trenches.
At last the grain train came. Every
pauper outside the camp was driven in
and securely locked up within the fence.
The grain was unlosded-but the
food they 30 anxiously wanted to eat
was denied many a one. The strain
in many instances was too great The
JOY was too violent and in sight of
plenty they died. And after the arrival
OF the grain the camp was organized
and two daily doles were made-one
in the morning and one in the evening.
The dole consisted of rice and chile
water. and after the first days food the
mortality in the camp was frightful.
1t rose to ever one thousand day.
The paupers were ranged in long lines;
each was furnished with platter. into
which was thrown the rice and then
sprinkled with chile water. Ere the
hand could convey the food to the
mouth the expectant eater would be
dead; others whilst gulping down their
food would be seized with commissions:
some who had finished their rice would
linger an hour or 50. their stomachs
swollen to an incredible size. and die
raving msniacs; some would dash their
heads against the ground delirious from
jov. In every horrid shape stood death
death in every revolving and hideous
fOrm.-COr San Francisco Chronicle.